Guns And Roses

Chapter 13

Layne Munford... Never had Walker in his wildest dreams imagined he would come to hear the name again, yet here he was in the Precinct, reliving his terrible past. Everything about that remarkable human came rushing back to his mind, like a tide to the shore...

 

Layne Munford had been son to the late Dr. Donovan Munford, the brilliant yet eccentric English scientist. Dr. Munford was regarded to be the smartest man of his generation, by miles. His intellect was unparalleled till date.

Dr. Munford had married a woman quite younger in years than him; when he was forty five and she twenty- seven, if Walker wasn’t mistaken. The name of the woman, however, Walker wasn’t able to recall.

Layne Munford was born two years after their marriage, and introduced to the world in Liverpool, England. Munford had soon proven his worth in school at the mere age of ten. He had apparently run to intellect, yet in some ways lacked some of his father’s other essential traits.

 

 Despite his stupendous intellectual capability, he seemed to lack hard-work or any sort of initiation on his part. He was also highly disinterested in any form of sport, as he thought it was a waste of energy and time. In spite of this he was promoted three classes from the First, in lieu of his precociousness.

 

Even whilst being in the company of students considerably older, sharper and rather more astute than him, he never failed to outshine them in every aspect. Sports and homework completion seemed to be the only thing his peers were better at than him.

 

Layne’s father’s untimely demise proved to have dire repercussions for the remaining part of the Munford family. Dr. Munford had spent most of the family money on his unending scientific experiments, leaving them with nothing but unpaid bills, a mortgaged house and meagre savings.

 

Layne was in the Tenth at the time, and had to immediately sacrifice his education, for the welfare of his mother. He worked odd jobs in the city, while his mother worked as a maid and gardener at a warm-hearted family’s house. They had got around well enough for the next year or so.

 

A couple of years hence, Layne soon came to become exasperated with this uneventful and dull lifestyle.  With his mother’s aid, Layne received a scholarship and came to study in The University of California. His mother had died a year after Layne had left. Walker had had the honour to attend her funeral with Layne.

 

Walker and Layne were in the same year, along with the other seven men currently under his captive. They’d all hit it off well enough. Being fellow Brits, Layne’s closest friend came to be Gregory.

 

Layne himself was a man one could describe with ease, so unique were the characteristics that man had possessed.

 

He stood at about 5’8, with a slightly arched back due to his unhealthy habit of sitting clumsily on the Uni desks while studying. He had emerald-green eyes, with a hooked nose, and a huge forehead, putting on display his phenomenal intellect for any sceptics. Despite his relative inactivity in sports, he was always game for Chess.

 Always game and always won, remembered Walker.

 

He would completely outfox his opponent, by running two simultaneous attacks with ease and unerring precision on the King; while the opposition would try to defend one, he would launch his other attack with lightning speed. Walker had had the misfortune of competing against him once, and didn’t even know what hit him. He’d been beaten in less than 2 minutes. Never Again, Walker had determined after seeing the sly grin of satisfaction spread across Layne’s face.